Max Barry was born in 1973 and lives in Melbourne, Australia. He worked for tech giant HP before he began writing fiction and developed the online nation simulation game NationStates as well as contributing to various open source software projects. He has written 4 acclaimed novels - Syrup, Company, Jennifer Government and now Machine Man - which brilliantly satirize various states of the current western human condition. His new novel, Lexicon, is published this summer.